10 scandalous literary works that everyone must read

At one time, not so long ago, people did not have to strain too hard to be scandalous, it was enough to joke on the wrong topic, read the wrong book, leave the hour later, declare their rights or, God forbid, tell the truth.

Right now you can write a book about anything, including sex, talking pigs, planets inhabited by strange alien beings and so on, and do not ignite the scandal.

Many of the most famous literary works were banned for the strangest reasons, but now we all have the opportunity to read them without any restrictions. Here are ten banned and scandalous books that are definitely worth reading right now.

"O Brave New World", Aldous Huxley

This novel anti-utopia describes a world in which people become too dependent on artificially created comfort. While some of the novel's ideas even today can be considered a little radical, Ireland has banned the work because of anti-religious thoughts and ideas that ran counter to traditional family values. India did not like the description of sex and relationships without any obligations - a topic on which the plot of the novel is literally built.

"Satanic Verses", Salman Rushdie

The author of the book, it turns out, committed a religious crime, so not only his book was banned for publication and distribution in most Muslim and not only countries, but Salman Rushdie himself received a death sentence from some Islamic leaders! The publication and sale of the novel led to several terrorist attacks and murders. Today, for the murder of the author, a reward of three and a half million dollars has been assigned.

"Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov

The erotic direction of the book today will not puzzle anyone, but it was different on the day when critics raised the fuss about the history of the young girl and her seducer. In reality, the book is not so much a scandalous erotic novel, as a satirical and full of irony and a reflection of American values of the twentieth century, which, however, did not prevent the UK from banning Lolita!

Ulysses, James Joyce

This book is written so hard that it is simply unrealistic to capture revolutionary moods. Yet, critics did their work, and the book was banned in the US and Britain in the 30s of the twentieth century. Maybe the problem was not so much in the plot as in the unusually frank scenes and thoughts about sex.

"Animal Farm", George Orwell

For some reason, most anti-Utopias at some point encounter prohibitions. Perhaps this is because these books hide an uncomfortable truth? Orwell described the cruelty and ignorance of communism in a very unorthodox satirical way and paid for it - the book was banned in North Korea, the USSR and Cuba. Who would have thought!

"The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger

What teens today read around the world are not at all like Salinger's surprisingly honest and poignantly realistic novel. While some critics view it as a stunning description of the shortcomings of a teenager's life, others believe that this is a frank call for suicide. Despite the prohibitions, "The Catcher in the Rye" remains one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature!

"American Psycho", Bret Easton Ellis

Despite the fact that this book is today considered mostly as a satire, the amount of gore is too high to go unnoticed. Many countries have completely banned the book, while the rest place age restrictions on it. There is too much violence in it!

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Who would have thought that a true description of life in America during the Depression could lead to bans? Nevertheless, this is exactly what happened with Steinbeck's novel. However, the ban in this case is only a proof that everything written was uncomfortable truth. This is the highest praise possible!

"The Well of Solitude," Radcliffe Hall

Writer Radcliffe Hall dared to write a novel about same-sex love, is it worth to be surprised by the reaction? The early twentieth century society was not ready to read about such relations and, frankly, not much has changed since then. There were no frank scenes in the novel, so a complete ban on the novel seems an excessive reaction.

"On the Western Front without Change", Erich Maria Remarque

A realistic description of the horrors of the war and the frank thoughts of people who died on the battlefields - this is exactly what did not like the huge number of influential people in the 30s of the twentieth century. In the novel Remarque was too much truth, so his masterpiece was buried along with the works of such geniuses as Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse.